Society in Embryo: Family Relationships as the Basis for Social Capital in Family Firms

Abstract

Family is a variable rarely included in organizational research (Dyer, 2003). Chua, Chrisman, and Sharma (1999) argued that one way researchers could bring clarity to the concept of family business would be to distinguish between operational and theoretical definitions. In this paper, we provide a theoretical definition for family business that is based on social capital theory (Coleman, 1988; Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998; Lesser, 2000; Portes, 1998; Putnam, 1993). A family business is one in which the social structure of the family overlaps with the social structure of the business. The result is that the social structure in the business takes on some of the characteristics of the family, especially in small businesses. In addition, and importantly, the social structure of the family takes on some characteristics of the business. In this paper, we focus on how the social structure that exists between marriage partners may influence the social structure in family firms.

Citation

Sorenson, R.L., Lumpkin, G.T., Yu, A. and Brigham, K.H. (2010), "Society in Embryo: Family Relationships as the Basis for Social Capital in Family Firms", Stewart, A., Lumpkin, G.T. and Katz, J.A. (Ed.) Entrepreneurship and Family Business (Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence and Growth, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 163-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1074-7540(2010)0000012008